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Tabor College junior Cheyenne Derksen won the National Critics Institute Region 5 competition part of the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival.

Derksen competed against seven students from across the Midwest. Each competitor participated Jan. 20 to 24 in Lincoln Neb., in theater activities including playwriting, acting, criticism, directing, and designing.

More than 1,500 students and faculty from 81 colleges and universities participated in the festival.

Derksen submitted a review of a show in December, by the end of the month she received an e-mail saying she was one of the top eight students who entered.

Because of the long drive, she left Lincoln before the winner was announced Friday.

“Since we live four hours away, we were already in the car and I checked Facebook on my phone at a gas station in Nebraska and saw that one person from high school had Facebooked me and said ‘Hey, I think you won something,’ I Facebooked back, ‘What did I win?’” Derksen said.

She received a trip to Washington, D.C., to compete at the Kennedy Center National Festival April 14.

“Winning that award justifies Tabor’s need for a fine arts building,” she said, “because it would grant the students much more access to the fine arts that are key for an applicable education in today’s world.”